


Taking The Stand

by Bobbadopolous



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-23
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-28 13:34:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6331213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bobbadopolous/pseuds/Bobbadopolous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aaron gears up to give testimony against Gordon</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Morning Of

**Author's Note:**

> Please be gentle on a first timer :)

It was the day of his testimony and subsequent cross examination and Aaron wasn’t really sure what he was meant to be feeling. His head was mashed.  
There was no way he wanted to stand up there in front of strangers and, worse still, the people he loved and explain in painstaking detail exactly what Gordon had done to him. Even the thought of it made his stomach turn and threaten to release its’ contents. It seemed so much like an impossibility that he’d even be able to get through it and even more impossible that he would do so with any modicum of decorum.  
The memories he was about to share were locked behind a heavy door in his mind. He’d opened it three times already with Robert and his mum and with DS Wise. He thought by now it would be easier to face that door and turn the handle but the truth was it wasn’t. Every time he went there, every time he forced himself to remember or, worse still, when the memories forced themselves on him it was like being abused all over again. It seemed to him the more people who knew the more vulnerable he became. He was vaguely aware that it shouldn’t be that way. That there was strength in numbers, that the more people who knew the more support he had. But he didn’t want to be someone who needed support, he’d always been more comfortable at giving support than receiving it (though in truth he wasn’t sure he’d been good at either), he didn’t want to be pitied and he didn’t want to be the topic of discussion. It all amounted to the fact that he didn’t want to be a victim, he just wanted it not to have happened.  
After all, he reasoned, it never should have happened.  
And there it was, under the deep layer of dread that shrouded him something was igniting. Something that resembled defiance. He was scared and he was ashamed but he was also pissed off. Aaron had always found that anger was a much more motivating emotion than hurt or humiliation. Now that his past had been ripped out of the shadows and thrown into the light he saw his father’s behaviour for the betrayal it was. He knew now it wasn’t his fault, nothing gave Gordon the right to do those things to him and he wanted justice. Aaron knew the day was going to suck but it was the road he had to take to send down that monster once and for all and he was just about mad enough to march in there and see it done. He just had to hold onto that feeling and not let self-doubt rob him of it.  
Aaron went back and forth in his mind, every time he thought of the specifics of the day, the memories he would have to relive and the questions he would be asked, he lost his nerve. Then he thought of having his mum present and how it would make her feel and he reclaimed his anger. He may have been trained as a child to take the blame and suffer in silence (something he was still working on in therapy) and there may’ve been times even recently when he doubted his ability or right to get justice but he would fight tooth and nail to never again have to see the devastation on his mum’s face that had been there when he’d told her. He had been hurt, yes but she had been hurt too and that was something he couldn’t stand for even on the days when he hated himself enough to believe he deserved the miserable childhood he’d had.  
“You right?”  
The voice shocked Aaron out of his thoughts and he jumped a little.  
“Didn’t mean to shock you,” Robert said looking guilty.  
Aaron marvelled at Robert’s inability to apologise. A normal person might’ve said sorry to startle you but not Robert. He didn’t mind though Robert’s soft voice and remorseful eyes amounted to the same thing. Anyway Aaron didn’t want a sorry because Robert really hadn’t done anything wrong, just interrupted his thoughts at an inopportune moment but they were the only kind of moments he had these days.  
“Yeah well you didn’t,” Aaron replied gruffly but he didn’t really bother committing to it because what was the point to the lie?  
Robert knew better than to push him on it and so they both just let it drop to the floor between them.  
Robert seemed to wait a moment for the awkwardness to dissipate but eventually sensing that it wouldn’t he soldiered on. That’s what it was like talking to Aaron these days, you had to be willing to take a few hits for the occasional victory. “So are you ready?”  
“For what?” Aaron asked being difficult because… he didn’t even know why…. Because he was annoyed his not-boyfriend couldn’t even walk into a room without him jumping a mile and now he was talking to him like he was a bird with a broken wing. Aaron wondered how they were ever going to get back to a place where they could really just be together. That’s all he wanted but it seemed an even bigger impossibility than him getting through today without losing his shit.  
Robert took a deep breath and weighed up the pros and cons of pushing Aaron for answers versus letting it go. The younger man was certainly entitled to be a complete mess today and he wasn’t judging, he was just worrying as had become his default setting.  
“Are we really going to do this?” He asked in the end, wiping tiredly at his eyes, “I just want to know that you are okay and I want you to know that it’s okay if you’re not.”  
Aaron gave him a measured look. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Robert or that he didn’t want to tell the truth, it was the fact he wasn’t sure he could give him an answer without falling apart. He figured he could give him two words, maybe three before he was a mess but the truth would take many more than that. So he looked him in the eye and tried to convey it that way.  
Robert stayed where he was and didn’t touch him which just may’ve been the hardest thing he’d ever done. The complete vulnerability in Aaron’s eyes was overwhelming, coupled with the fear he already felt radiating off his body from where he stood a foot away, it was untenable.  
“Aaron…” was all Robert could say but he didn’t have anything to follow it up with. He felt useless. Aaron dropped his gaze and stared awkwardly at the floor instead.  
“I’m here…” Robert said quietly meaning to reassure the younger man of at least that one fact in lieu of any other promises he could make about the outcome of today.  
“Are ya?” Aaron asked and suddenly Robert was hit with those stunning blue eyes, so full of doubt and pain.  
“Of course,” he replied horrified that Aaron doubted it, “always…”  
“Cos you know,” Aaron said sniffling slightly and playing with the hem of his shirt, “Some of the stuff they say today might not be the most…” he trailed off seemingly at a loss.  
“It doesn’t matter,” Robert said guessing the rest, taking a step closer against his better judgement, “Nothing they can say, nothing they can dig up or twist around will ever change how I feel about you.”  
“You don’t know all the stuff I’ve done”  
“Hey!” Robert said indignant on Aaron’s behalf, “you’re not the one on trial here,” then sensing that wasn’t the reassurance Aaron was looking for, “I don’t care what they might dredge up besides I can hardly afford to judge anyone on their pasts.”  
Aaron smirked despite himself and that one fleeting moment of levity made Robert’s heart soar even if it was kind of at his own expense.  
“Look at me,” Robert said sensing it was now okay to move in closer, “This is Gordon’s trial, not yours.”  
“Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it,” Aaron said and the hint of defeat that accompanied it was a knife to Robert.  
“Yeah well it’s the truth,” Robert said emphatically.  
“And what if the court decides I’m lying?” Aaron asks and it’s meant to sound nonchalant but Robert can hear the fear behind it.  
“I can’t stand here and promise you they won’t,” He said honestly, “But everyone who loves you believes you, no questions asked, and they won’t stop believing you regardless of what happens today.”  
Aaron didn’t respond, he was back looking at his shoes and twisting his hands into his shirt sleeves. Robert wondered if lying mightn’t have been the better tact but screw it Aaron deserved the truth, didn’t he?  
“All you can do is go in there and tell the truth,” Robert said silently begging Aaron to look at him again, he was sure if he would just look he’d find the reassurance in Robert’s eyes that was absent from his clumsy words, “I believed you when you told me, ya mum believed you when you told her and the police believed you when you told them or else we wouldn’t be here.”  
Robert let that sink in a little before continuing, “Gordon wants you to think no one will believe you but everyone so far has. Why wouldn’t the jury?”  
Aaron shrugged but said nothing.  
Robert opened his mouth to begin what he hoped would be a rousing monologue on the enduring power of the truth when Chas came through the door and he quickly forced his lips together.  
“You’re here early,” she said curtly to Robert. Compared to some of her earlier efforts the words were like a warm hug but as always they were laced with the threats and promises of what she would do if Robert ever hurt her little boy.  
He thought about mentioning the early bird getting the worm but decided that sounded too much like an inappropriate euphemism so he just nodded in response.  
It didn’t really matter anyway because as soon as she saw Aaron’s face Robert was forgotten.  
“Are you alright Love?” she asked, and whatever else Robert could say about Chas (and that was a long and detailed list) he never doubted her love for her son. Her voice now was filled with almost palpable concern.  
“Would you be?” Aaron asked simply and it appeared as though even Aaron himself wasn’t expecting that to be his answer.  
Chas looked at Robert if only to share her concern for Aaron with someone else, Robert was always happy to exchange worried glances where Aaron was concerned.  
“I mean if you had to relive the worst days of your life in front of strangers and your family?” Aaron asked, “Everyone’s telling me I’m brave and that… but how would you feel?”  
Chas and Robert could do nothing but look on as Aaron twisted himself into knots.  
“Do you think you’d feel brave?” Aaron asked only it sounded more like pleading as his voice broke on the word brave.  
“Oh Love…” Chas whispered moving in to take Roberts previous position in front of Aaron. She reached out and bundled up her son in her arms.  
Robert thought for a minute that Aaron would throw off her attempts but it appeared she was the exception to the no-touching rule and Robert was glad someone could comfort Aaron even if he couldn’t do it himself.  
“I would hate it,” Chas was saying to Aaron somehow managing to keep the tears at bay, “I can’t think of anything worse but that’s what makes you brave son. You don’t have to feel it now but the fact that you can be as scared as you are and still do this …that makes you so incredibly brave.”  
Aaron was shaking but seemed to be beyond tears caught up in Chas’s arms.  
“I don’t think I want you to hear it again Mum,” Aaron finally says.  
Chas pulls back slightly to look her son in the eye, “I’m going to be there Aaron,” she says simply.  
“But it’s not fair on you,” Aaron replies and it’s clear that all the concern Chas has for her son is being returned in kind, “You’ve been through enough with your PTSD and me…” he trailed off.  
“It’s not going to be easy son,” she said earnestly, “but if you go in there I’m coming too, we are going to get through this together.”  
Robert watched and marvelled at the interaction wishing, not for the first time throughout all this, for his own mother to be there. He shook it off quickly and returned his focus to where it should be, Aaron.  
“Right well…” Robert said clearing his throat, “should we get ready then?”


	2. Damn Buttons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaron's getting ready but the buttons are a problem

Aaron had managed to get his pants on in a welcome state of denial. He chanted I can do this like a mantra in his head it’s just a pair of pants, I know how to put on pants.  
He’d slipped one arm after the other into his shirt, still feeling not too bad, and got half of the buttons done up before reality, unbidden, came knocking at his scull. His hands shook to the point where they were useless. He sat down on the edge of his bed, head low just trying to steady his breathing. The difference between okay and bricking it was one button, nothing special about it … just the way things go he guessed.  
He wasn’t ready to call it a full-scale panic attack but he felt uncomfortably warm, his breathing was erratic and he couldn’t stop his hands from shaking. He closed his eyes, counted to ten and tried to go back to that simple place where he was just putting on pants.   
After a few dozen counts of ten he’d managed to reign in his breathing but his hands still weren’t cooperating. He didn’t know how long he’d been at it or if he was in danger of being late and his shirt was still half undone. Clumsily he fussed with the impractically small plastic discs that had the audacity to call themselves buttons but to no avail. His efforts were interrupted by a knock on the door.  
“Aaron?” came Robert’s concerned voice, “Are you alright in there?”  
Sensing that he had been defeated Aaron gave up on the buttons and got up and crossed the room to the door.  
There was a very worried looking Robert waiting on the other side. He looked down taking in Aaron’s haphazard appearance then up into the younger man’s face.  
Aaron held up his hands, “They won’t stop shaking,” he said by way of explanation.  
Robert nodded simply, “May I?” he asked gesturing to Aaron’s half-done top.  
Aaron seemed to consider it for a moment, then nodded, opening the door wider and stepping aside for Robert to enter.  
Robert went slowly reaching forward and softly taking up the two sides of Aaron’s shirt, holding them out so that he was never actually touching Aaron. They were too close to each other and that would’ve been too intimate. As it was Robert was having difficulty controlling his own hands though he suspected his reasons were entirely different to Aaron’s and that made him feel slightly ashamed of himself.   
In his efforts to be respectful and gentle Robert wasn’t actually being that effective in his job, fumbling the shirt a few times.  
Aaron, was watching Robert’s face as he worked on the buttons, he knew or at least could guess at why Robert wasn’t just getting on with it and it annoyed him for reasons even he didn’t fully understand.  
“I’m not going to break you know?” he said gruffly.  
It was meant to be rhetorical but Robert saw an opportunity and took it. Looking into Aaron’s eyes he said simply and honestly “I know.” Robert wanted so badly for Aaron to know just how strong he was.   
Aaron turned his head breaking the eye contact.  
Robert thought about pushing it and clarifying what he meant… that he thought Aaron was the strongest person he knew, or had ever known… but instead he trusted that Aaron understood him in that weird way that he had always understood him.  
Robert turned back to his efforts, this time with stronger more assertive hands. When the shirt was done, he buttoned the cuffs, which almost felt like holding Aaron’s hand, something he had been longing to do since the trial began. Then he retrieved Aaron’s tie and tied it in silence. Aaron flinched slightly as Robert passed the tie around the back of his head, Robert paused until Aaron gave him the nod and he continued. When it was done Aaron sat back down on the bed.   
“Do you think you can do your shoes?” Robert asked softly, Aaron looked up as if he’d only just realised the other man was still there and Robert wondered how far away he had been, or perhaps how long ago.  
“Your shoes?” Robert asked again gesturing to the black leather lace-ups.  
Aaron looked down to where Robert was pointing and nodded but didn’t move.   
Robert was becoming uncomfortably aware of time getting away from them so he knelt down on the floor and helped ease Aaron’s feet into the shoes. Aaron looked embarrassed when Robert started to ties the laces.  
“Bit pathetic this, isn’t it” Aaron said and Robert didn’t like the sound of self-loathing in his voice.  
“No,” he said with a shake of his head, “Aaron you’re putting away a rapist,” Aaron’s flinch at the word didn’t go unnoticed, “Who cares if you can’t tie a shoe right now?”  
“How does a person that can’t tie a shoe manage to do that?” Aaron asked defeated.  
“They let a good…mate tie it for them or they start buying Velcro,” Robert said injecting some light humour into the mix, fully prepared for it backfire on him.  
Aaron didn’t exactly laugh or even really smile but he’s shoulders relaxed a bit so Robert figured it had been worth the risk.  
“Sometimes it just seems impossible…” Aaron said and Robert knew it wasn’t self-pity or self-doubt, it was just plain honesty, “And now you’re all here and you’ve had my back … and I just don’t wanna let you down…”  
Robert had never thought how more support might equal more pressure for Aaron but he certainly did now. His whole family was hurting for him and now Aaron felt responsible for making it better and it was just so sad that Robert could barely stand it.  
“Aaron…” Robert said earnestly, “You’re family just wants you to be okay, they love you, so you do whatever you need to do to be okay and they will be okay too.”  
“That simple, huh?” Aaron asked.  
Robert shrugged, “no need for everything to be so complicated is there?” then he worried that Aaron might think he was being flippant.  
Aaron seemed to be mulling it over, “I think I need him to go down or at least hear me today,” he said, “I think I need that to be okay.”  
“Okay,” Robert said reclaiming eye contact, “so that’s what we do.”  
“Do I look alright?” Aaron asked looking down at his outfit.  
“You look ready to go,” Robert replied steering well clear of adjectives like beautiful or perfect even though they fitted just as well.  
Aaron nodded a look of determination passing over his face as he got to his feet and clapped Robert on the shoulder.  
“Let’s go then.”


	3. The Courthouse

Chas waited for them at the foot of the stairs. God help her, she didn’t know why’d she’d agreed to let Robert be the one to go to Aaron… to comfort Aaron. Surely that was her job… though if she’d been good at her job none of this would be happening.   
The guilt was an ugly black cancer that lived in her guts, twisting her insides until the aching consumed her. How could she have abandoned Aaron to that? How could she have abandoned him full stop? She could feel the emotions start to overwhelm her and she clamped down hard on them. There would be time to indulge those feelings later, the rest of her life in fact, but at the moment that particular guilt trip was a hamster wheel she couldn’t afford to get stuck on. She couldn’t change the past she could only work on ensuring a better future for her son.  
Chas’ thoughts were interrupted by footfalls on the stairs and she looked up to see Aaron and Robert descending. Aaron was pale and grim-faced but determined. She grudgingly admitted (if only to herself) that perhaps Robert had been the right calming voice after all. Calm had never really been Chas’ strong suit.   
“You ready Love?” she asked.  
“Yeah,” was just about all Aaron could muster. He was like a space shuttle in danger. All power was being diverted to the critical systems. Just breathing and moving like a normal human being was taking up most of his efforts. If you added to that not panicking and maintaining his resolve there wasn’t much energy left over for chit chat.  
Chas looked at Robert for confirmation. Robert nodded they were ready, or as ready as they’d ever be.  
Cain was waiting for them in the car outside and if any of them were relying on him to break the tension with one of his famously pithy greetings of Smiler or Sunshine they were going home disappointed. Instead he nodded a solemn hello, opened the passenger door for Chas, looked at Aaron with more empathy than Robert though him capable of and asked, “You ‘right?”  
Aaron nodded before sliding into the backseat. Robert walked around the other side and slid in next to Aaron without waiting for an invitation. If anyone had told him even a month ago that he’d one day willingly get into a car with Chas and Cain Dingle he would’ve though them mad but here he was knowing there was no place he’d rather be.  
They rode most of the way in silence. There was so much Robert wanted to say but it was always harder talking to Aaron with other people around and Chas and Cain weren’t exactly a sympathetic audience when it came to the emotional stuff between Aaron and him. What he had to say was just for Aaron and he knew Aaron preferred it that way too, so instead he kept his mouth shut and contented himself with stealing glances and when that wasn’t enough overtly staring at Aaron.   
What he saw when he looked at him; he knew Aaron would never truly believe. He was beautiful (though Aaron would probably prefer ruggedly handsome) that’s what had attracted Robert at first but he wasn’t JUST beautiful. If the attraction had been purely physical he could’ve picked him up and tossed him aside like he had done countless others, men and women alike.   
His beauty might have been the thing that caught Robert’s eye but it was the man that made it impossible for him to leave. He was a thug with a conscience, a criminal with a moral code, a tough nut with a warm heart.   
As he heard himself describe Aaron he realised none of those things really sounded like compliments but they were. Where did a guy who, for a large part of his life, knew only fear and cruelty, learn how to trust, how could he still fall in love, where did his compassion come from? Sure he was rough around the edges and a little shady but Robert loved those parts too, in a way he found them easier to relate to. Aaron was an enigma he loved to unravel because the more he learned the more he loved. Aaron was selfless and secretly kind, he worried too much and he felt responsible for things outside his control, he didn’t love too many people but with those he did he was vulnerable. In short he was goddamn amazing.  
Robert, lost inside his Aaron worship, was shocked to feel a warm hand enclose his own. Looking down at where his and Aaron’s hands met he couldn’t quite believe it was happening. For a crazy second he wondered if Aaron had heard his warm and fuzzy thoughts. Looking up he saw that Aaron wasn’t looking at him or his hand but rather staring intently out the window. The courthouse had come into view and the events of the day had just gotten very real.  
Aaron tried to hang onto the near certainty he had felt as he’d sat in his bedroom with Robert not more than an hour ago but the courthouse had seemed to jump up out of nowhere and he found himself reaching for Robert like a dormant reflex had been triggered. He held on tight and there was only a moment’s uncertainty before he felt the pressure returned from Robert’s end. Robert was like a tether to reality that stopped Aaron from being carried away by his dark thoughts.  
Robert continued to squeeze Aaron’s hand right up until they were parked and getting out of the car and let go only then because unfastening his seatbelt required it.  
Aaron made no move to undo his own seatbelt or open his door he just sat for a moment and tried to regain control of his thoughts. There were two certainties fighting for dominance, first; the certainty that he had to do this and second; the certainty that he was incapable of doing this. For sixteen years he had told himself it was impossible that Gordon would ever be held accountable, impossible for anyone else to believe him, impossible for him to overcome the shame and admit to anyone what had happened, that was a lot for four months of wishful thinking to overcome.   
“Aaron?” It was Robert’s soft voice invading his thoughts and Robert’s soft hand that returned to hold his own.  
Aaron took a couple of deep breaths before turning to look at him.  
“You can do this,” Robert said assuredly, sensing the panic mounting in the other man.  
Aaron nodded but it wasn’t altogether convincing.  
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” Robert whispered urgently, sure that if he knew what was troubling Aaron he could say or do something to help.  
“I can’t” Is all Aaron said.  
“Yes you can,” Robert replied in that same confident tone.  
“No!”  
“You can.”  
“Well then I don’t want to,” Aaron replied simply.  
Robert was about to respond with a rallying cry but stopped mouth open and sighed deeply instead.  
“I know,” he said finally, “and you shouldn’t have to. Nothing like this should ever have happened to you.”  
Aaron closed his eyes unable to withstand the earnest look in Robert’s eyes.  
“You shouldn’t be here. It’s not fair,” Robert continued, “Doesn’t that make you mad?”  
Aaron opened his eyes and stared incredulously at the other man.  
“You shouldn’t be here Aaron,” Robert repeated hoping he’d struck the right nerve, “he put you here! Doesn’t that make you mad? Don’t you want to see him take responsibility for it?”  
“Mostly I just want to sleep,” Aaron admitted and Robert’s heart broke a little, “I’m tired Robert.”  
“I know you are,” Robert said his voice softening again as his thumb stroked the back of Aaron’s hand, “One more day, then you’ll have done it. Everything else is out of your control, lawyers, jury members and the other witnesses… whatever comes next, after today you will have done everything you can possibly do.”  
Aaron nodded numbly, Robert was right, one more day, just one.  
“You know what might help?” Robert asked gently. “Whenever I have something I’m dreading I try to imagine what I’ll do afterwards.”  
Aaron looked at him like he was crazy.  
“It sounds stupid but it really works,” Robert assured him, “Don’t focus on now or the next couple of hours. Think about tonight.”  
Aaron was unconvinced.  
“Tonight,” Robert said pushing on, “regardless of what happens, you and I are going to sit down in the back room of the pub with a few beers and I am going to let you talk football for as long as you want and we are going to eat whatever you want for dinner.”  
Aaron tried to imagine that, being home with Robert, drinking beer, watching footie and eating crap takeout. He could see them sitting on the couch, Robert getting confused and bored, having never really followed the sport himself but feigning interest all the same. Aaron could see him munching on a cheap hamburger and fries with the same enthusiasm he had when he was eating his fancy caviar, though he’d always profess to like the finer things more. He imagined their shoulders brushing together and their hands finding each other like they had done moments before. He imagined easy conversations and comfortable silences.  
“It better not be cheap beer,” Aaron said finally surprised that Robert’s silly game of make believe had actually worked.  
“Only the best,” Robert said with that self-assured grin that always made Aaron smile despite himself.  
Aaron took a final deep breath, and nodded to himself. Then without another word he unlatched his seatbelt and got out of the car.  
Chas and Cain, who had tried to maintain a respectful distance, were waiting on the steps by the courthouse. Chas gave Aaron’s arm a quick squeeze as he walked by.  
“We are going to be there with you Son,” she said reassuringly.   
Aaron nodded, “see you in there.” He hoped he sounded confident but as he watched his mother and uncle enter the courthouse he couldn’t help but think what they’d be hearing next time he saw them. The intimate details of the worst days of his life neither of them had been there to protect him from. He only wanted to punish Gordon but there was no way to avoid hurting them when he told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  
Robert stayed with Aaron as he waited to be called. They were sat in a little room off to one side, with polished wooden seats and a matching coffee table in the corner. Aaron alternated between sitting with his knees bouncing up and down and anxiously pacing the room. Robert was watching Aaron make his umpteenth lap from the discomfort of his rigid wooden seat when the younger man gave a funny little jolt.  
Robert was on his feet in an instant, “Aaron?” he called out as the other man took off out of the room.  
For a moment Robert worried that he’d bottled it but following Aaron a short way down the hall he realised they were heading for the gents.  
When Robert got there he could hear the unmistakable sound of someone vomiting into a toilet bowl. He thanked god that no one else was in there and that Aaron had at least a little privacy.  
He stood outside the cubicle staring at the soles of the shoes he’d helped tie that morning as they stuck out from under the door. Taking the ‘Closed for Cleaning’ sign from behind the door Robert hung it on the outside hoping that no one would question it and that there was another toilet somewhere in the complex so that Aaron and he might have this one to themselves.  
After a few minutes Aaron appeared from around the cubicle door looking a little sweaty and embarrassed.  
“Feeling better?” Robert asked as if it were no big deal. He’d been tossing up between a few different opening lines as he waited trying to craft one most likely to put Aaron at ease.  
Aaron nodded, his posture relaxing slightly.  
“Good,” Robert said, “Then take this,” he said producing from his pocket a travel sized toothbrush and toothpaste, the kind they give you on long flights.  
Aaron raised an eyebrow. Robert never ceased to amaze him.  
“What?” Robert shrugged nonchalantly as if it were a completely normal occurrence to produce dental products from the pocket of one’s suit jacket, “I thought, you know… just in case.”  
Robert stepped outside as Aaron brushed his teeth. Aaron felt better having emptied his stomach and glad that, if it had to happen, it happened before and not during his testimony. He splashed some cold water on his face and returned in his mind to the image he’d crafted of that night. Robert and he kicking back, his testimony done and delivered, nothing else for him to do but weather the storm with the man he loved. With that thought in mind he straightened up and headed out of the bathroom.  
He met Robert on the other side of the door.  
“I’m ready.”


End file.
